42- Out of the Past.
The Nemesis was flying in middle of space, and on its bridge was Starscream and Soundblaster's original self: Soundwave (version of 2015 Robots in Disguise), waiting for two Decepticon soldiers to bring them a captured Autobot.
Once they carried the Autobot in front of Starscream, he turned at her. "They said it couldn't be done. The one called Arcee is too quick, too stealthy to be captured. Well, here you are, with a rare opportunity to make history." He said before pointing at Soundwave. "You see, I have intercepted this encrypted Autobot signal. And if it's encrypted it must be important. Decode it for me and I will see to it that you perish quickly."
But Arcee didn't answer, she simply mumbled.
"Speak up! I can't hear you when you whimper." Starscream demanded.
"Get…fragged." Arcee simply said.
Starscream grumbled at first, but then he chuckled. "Perhaps you will be more inclined to cooperate when it is not your own well-being at stake."
Arcee saw the Decepticon soldiers bring another captured Autobot, one very recognizable.
"Arcee, it's been a while." Hot Rod saluted.
"Give me the encryption code or I will add your comrade Hot Rod to the multitude of fallen Autobots below." Starscream threatened.
"Scrap him. I barely know the guy." Arcee answered.
"Ouch, glad I'm not the sensitive type." Hot Rod joked.
In front of the ship was a metallic planet, but empty of life.
"Cybertron is little more than a graveyard now. Give me the code!"
"I'm not afraid of you, Starscream. You're no Megatron." Arcee provoked.
"RAAARG!" Starscream roared as he was about to strike her with his claws.
But all that simply a memory from the past, because the real Arcee was in the Autobot base. She could see both Warpath and Wheeljack in front of her lying on the floor, with Dawn and May next to them. But they didn't look happy to see them better.
"Three steps, Warpath? That's all you can manage?" May asked annoyed.
"I expected more from you, Wheeljack." Dawn added.
"Sorry, girls. My legs still hurt." Wheeljack said before he got up with difficulty, because it was hard for him to keep balance.
"Speak for yourself, I can't barely stand up." Warpath complained before May's Venusaur helped him to get on his feet.
"What did we tell you?" The two girls said in unison.
"No excuses." The two Autobots answered at the same time.
"That's right. Try again." May said.
"Ten steps this time, and no leaning on each other." Dawn instructed.
While both Autobots tried their best to walk, Piplup was worried about his trainer's recent behavior.
"Piplup." He lamented.
"Yes, Piplup. I know that too." Ratchet nodded to him before went with Optimus, who was working on something on the terminal. "I hope decoding the Iacon database is going more smoothly than Warpath and Wheeljack's recovery."
"Slow but steady, old friend." Optimus reassured.
"Ugh, human technology. But your expertise in the field should provide any edge we need to beat the Decepticons at this game."
"I fear their access to cybertronian technology may provide them with equal advantage."
Then they heard a crash sound, caused by Warpath collapsing on the floor again.
"Not good enough! You have to come back stronger than before!" May scold.
"Time for a break, Warpath." Ratchet said as he went to help him up.
"A break? You think the Cons are gonna give Warpath a break in the middle of a firefight?!"
"If you push a patient too far, too fast, you risk exacerbating their injuries. And that goes for Wheeljack too."
"But…" Dawn started.
"They need to rest." Ratchet cut off before he took Warpath to a resting seat as Wheeljack followed him.
Both girls groaned in annoyance, just in the moment when Sideswipe drove inside the base and transformed in front of them.
"I'm home!" He announced.
"We already know! We saw you coming!" May yelled at him.
"Hey, what's with the bad mood?"
"Nothing! We're just fine." Dawn defended.
Arcee looked at them worried, knowing what they were feeling. Moments later, Dawn and May were sitting near the edge of the peak of base's ceiling, with tearful eyes. Piplup also noticed it.
"Piplup?"
Dawn looked at her pokémon, wiped out her tears and smile, before grabbing him. "Don't worry Piplup, it's nothing. We're fine."
"Girls?"
"Oh. Eh? Hey Arcee. We were just…" May started.
"Aren't we a little close to the edge?"
"Heights don't scare me." May defended.
"We have been in high places before and made it just fine. Tell her, Piplup." Dawn encouraged.
"Piplup." The penguin pokémon nodded.
"Warpath and Wheeljack are coming along just fine, thanks mostly to your efforts. But they need their companions right now, not a drill sergeant."
"No offense, but we came up here for some privacy. Don't tell me you came to talk because Max told you something about me, right?" May suspected.
"He didn't. Bee did, just because Max told him he's worried about his older sister. I understand what you're going through. If you ever want someone to talk to…"
"We're fine, okay?" May interrupted. "We're not the ones Bombshock tried to scrap."
"Look girls, it's rough when someone you care about gets hurt. Closing yourself off from feeling won't help anyone."
"And you would know better than anyone, wouldn't you?" Dawn asked sarcastically.
"Yes. I would."
Looking how Arcee lowered her head, Dawn realized that she knew it because it really happened to her. She felt rueful for what she said.
"Really?" May asked shocked.
"Pi?" Piplup said confused.
"Arcee, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." Dawn apologized.
"It's okay. He's been on my mind lately. After I lost my first partner, Tailgate, I pushed everyone away. Until Hot Rod came along. It may sound surprising for you, but he and I didn't get along in the beginning. He even acted differently than now."
"What was he like then?"
"Always trying to make a chat in order to know his pals, quite a conversationalist."
"How was it?" May asked interested.
"Please, tell us." Dawn begged.
Back to the story, Arcee was inside a prison cell when suddenly the Cons threw Hot Rod inside.
"Hot Rod? Are you…?" Arcee started.
"I…I guess…I guess I suspected right: you actually cared." Hot Rod said with a chuckle.
Arcee stepped away a little annoyed. "The only thing I care about is whether you talked just now."
Hot Rod got up and loosened his servos. "You're always this nice to your rescuers?" He started to check the room.
"Didn't answer my question."
"I got bored with Starscream's little workout, so I idled my engines and fake shut down. And it worked, Scream bought it."
"How did you wind up here?"
"I was trying to reunite with any surviving Autobot forces after we got scattered by the exodus when I intercepted some chatter about a Decepticon operation on our home planet. So I follow the trail and find Starscream shipping massive amounts of energon here to Cybertron. And you?"
"Same."
"You're quite the conversationalist."
In the bridge, Starscream was growing tired of the Autobots uncooperative behavior.
"I've tried every interrogation technique and nothing is working. I would just eliminate them but the code they carry is too valuable. If only I could break them open and just take it." Starscream expressed mad.
Then Soundwave pointed to Cybertron.
"No, I will not take the prisoners to the surface. Why should I let him have all the glory?"
"The code they carry is too valuable." Soundwave replayed Starscream's previous sentence as answer.
"All right. Since I must deliver the energon to him anyway."
Moments later, the Decepticons were on the surface carrying a lot of energon and the two Autobot prisoners through the streets.
"So this is Kaon, huh? It relieves me to see that at least we managed to leave it as bad as you left Iacon before we departed." Hot Rod provoked.
Of course, that provoked Starscream enough. "Silence!"
And one of the Cons pushed Hot from behind. They reached to some kind of laboratory.
"Here we are." Starscream announced.
"Oh no, I have a very bad feeling about this." Hot Rod admitted seeing a table with lots of creepy operating tools.
"Since I could not compel you to surrender the encryption code, I'm forced to introduce you to someone whose methods are a little more…persuasive."
Walking through the hallway was a purple cybertronian, bigger than all the others present in the room, with a body that resembled some kind of advanced tank. But the parts that distinguished him from the others were that he had a huge cannon instead of his left arm and only one red eye.
"Yes, we are undoubtedly in a very big problem." Hot Rod confirmed nervous.
"Autobots, say hello to Shockwave." Starscream introduced.
Moments later, the two Autobots were hooked to two operating tables while Shockwave (Shockblast previous self) was checking the tools.
"Delivering a mountain of energon, intercepting an encrypted Autobot communique and capturing two key prisoners is impressive, I admit. But lord Megatron expects nothing less from his first lieu…" Starscream was saying, until he saw Shockwave looking at him. He may be a little annoyed. "I should let you work, right? No doubt you are trying to concentrate. Carry on."
Shockwave picked up a plug and inserted it at the back of his own head. With the Decepticons distracted, Arcee tried to break one of her energy shackles, thing that Hot Rod saw.
"Hum, Shockwave, are you certain you can extract the decryption code without first nullifying our subjects' neural net?" Starscream asked.
Shockwave was checking things on a terminal before turning at him. "I invented the cortical psychic patch. I am familiar with its idiosyncrasies."
"Of course you are."
Shockwave walked towards Arcee with the other end of the cord in hand.
"Keep that thing away from me, you one-eyed freak." She yelled.
"Leave her alone! Use it on me!" Hot Rod demanded.
"Do not worry. If her mind does not survive the procedure, you will be next." Shockwave reassured before he held Arcee's head with his cannon as he plugged the cord at the back of her head, causing her a lot of pain.
Hot Rod tried to break free, but the monitor already showed what Shockwave was looking for inside Arcee's mind.
"Ah, the code." Starscream saw.
Shockwave pulled out the cord off Arcee, causing her to moan in pain, and lying motionless.
"Arcee! Arcee! I'll scrap you both!" Hot Rod yelled.
"Shut up. I'm trying to listen." Starscream said.
The encryption began to relay a message. "This is Sentinel Prime. To all surviving Autobots who hear this message, I ask you to join me in a remote corner of the galaxy, on a small planet rich with energon. I have reason to believe this world is the one which the portal where the Ark was heading was supposed to take us to, a new target of Decepticon conquest. Only some of our crew are still alive, but we are strong. Join me at these coordinates so that we might plan our resistance. Safe journeys."
As they heard the message, Hot Rod saw that Arcee was faking death. She winked him an eye and continued to try to break free.
"Ah, brilliant! Not only do we know where to find Prime, but he's begging for help. Now is the time to strike." Starscream proclaimed before he turned at Soundwave. "Soundwave, send a message to lord Megatron. Tell him we have found the location of the target world we were looking since the fall of Cybertron, and that Prime is there, but not aware of our knowledge."
Soundwave nodded before he left the room.
Shockwave turned at Hot Rod. "You are no longer of use." And aimed his cannon at him.
"Hey Scream. I just want to know, you always let other Cons do your dirty work?" Hot Rod called.
"Shockwave, you already disposed of one of my prisoners. Hot Rod is mine."
"Your reasoning is hardly logical, but indulge yourself."
Shockwave left the lab with the guarding Cons, leaving the Autobots alone with Starscream, who was checking the tools.
"What do you think, Hot Rod? Plenty to choose from here. Shall we go with precise dissection or blunt force?" Starscream suggested.
In that moment, Arcee broke free.
"Your choice, Scream. Whatever you pick, I'm just gonna end using it on you." Hot Rod replied.
"Very well." Starscream said as he approached the young Autobot. "Why don't we do this the old-fashioned way?" And raised his claws.
But before he could strike, Arcee jumped and arm-pinned Starscream. Then, she kneed him on the back and kicked him to the operating table. The energy shackles activated and kept Starscream pinned.
"No! No!"
Arcee released Hot Rod.
"Thanks for the save." He thanked.
"Your turn, Starscream. What's with all the energon?" Arcee asked.
"As if I would tell you."
"Talk, or you're a science experiment. I'm not kidding." Arcee menaced serious before she walked to the tools table.
"You should probably tell us something. I'm not sure how long I can hold her back." Hot suggested to him.
"I'm no expert with this thing, but I heard one slip-up can fry a neural net." Arcee threatened picking the cord.
"Shockwave! He's the one you want. He's building a space bridge beneath Kaon." Starscream answered.
"Impossible. Space bridge technology's been lost for megacycles."
"The last one known was that one located by Jazz and Cliffjumper in that ancient city of the Sea of Rust." Hot Rod recalled.
"And yet he managed. Shockwave never left Cybertron precisely so he could scavenge parts, then reverse-engineer space bridge mechanics."
"And you just delivered all the energon he needs to power it up."
"Well, it often pains me, I try to be a team player."
Arcee kicked Starscream hard on his face, knocking him out.
"Where are you going?" Hot Rod asked.
"To take down a space bridge." Arcee answered as she continued walking.
"Without me?"
"This will require stealth, not chatter."
"Like the chatter that distracted Starscream long enough for you to free yourself?"
"Just try not to slow me down."
Both Autobots jumped down to a lower level and started making their way through some corridors.
"You know where you're going?" Hot Rod asked.
"My unit used these tunnels during the war. They're part of Old Cybertron." Arcee revealed.
"The sooner we blow the bridge, the sooner we join up with Prime and his crew."
"Give him my regards."
"What? Did you not hear Prime's message? He needs us."
"Teamwork isn't my thing. After we finish this you and I go our separate ways."
Hot Rod sighed. "As you wish, partner."
Arcee suddenly stopped and faced Hot Rod. "Let's get one thing straight, rookie: you are not my partner."
"Arcee, I know it's rough. I really do."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said as she continued walking.
"Tailgate. I was there when Bee and I took you out, I saw him."
That made Arcee remember what happened to his partner, the reason why she hates Airachnid so much.
"You may think doing things by yourself and not interact with others may release you from pain, but closing yourself off from feeling won't help anyone. At the end is good to have someone at your side." Hot Rod said as Arcee's surroundings changed back to the top of the base.
"Sounds familiar." Dawn called in.
"A good advice is a good advice." Arcee replied.
"So, I gotta know. What happened next?" May asked.
"You girls really got into it."
"Pi piplup." Piplup called jumping.
Dawn chuckled. "And so is Piplup."
Back into the story, two Vehicons were guarding the entrance of the space bridge station, until they were taken down and dragged away by the two Autobots. Next, the duo hid as they spotted the space bridge, already generating a portal.
"Shockwave's latest work of art." Arcee observed.
"Already fueled and ready to rip. Arcee, look familiar?" Hot Rod pointed to the space bridge control terminal.
"The coordinates Sentinel provided. They're being used to target the space bridge."
"Which means the Cons will ambush Prime and his team before any Autobot reinforcements can get there."
"If the Cons scorch Prime, the war is as good as over."
"We can fix that." Hot Rod reassured changing his hand for one of his guns.
"No. We don't have the ordinance to blow the bridge. I'll have to sabotage the control systems."
"What about access? You're just gonna walk up and ask for permission?"
"No. You are."
Hot Rod groaned in disbelief. "Why have I spoken?" He cursed, making Arcee laugh.
Two Decepticons were finishing preparing the space bridge when…
"Uh, excuse me?" Hot Rod called entering walking into the station. "I got separated from the tour group. Do you know where I can find the Decepticon base?"
The Cons simply activated their weapons as they walked toward him.
"Wow, calm down comrades. Didn't the commander tell you? I'm on your side now." Hot Rod invented, leaving the Cons confused. "That coward, Sentinel Prime, betrayed us and ran away. Leaving the rest of us Autobots to fend for ourselves. What a big great leader, huh?"
As Hot Rod continued distracting them, Arcee reached the controls silently.
"Figured I'd rather be on the winning team, so I accepted Starscream's offer. Imagine the look on Prime's face when it starts raining Decepticons. Me with them." He continued. "Really. I know everything about Starscream's plan, we can all get along now."
Suddenly, the Decepticons lowered their weapons, which Hot Rod found suspicious.
"Let me guess: there is someone behind me, right?" Hot Rod asked before he turned, and found Shockwave standing before him.
"Only Starscream could fail to dispose of a helpless captive." Shockwave deduced.
Then the space bridge began to give off an eerie screech and power build-up.
"Uh, it is supposed to sound like that?" Hot asked, before Shockwave wacked him aside and ran to the controls.
"Interloper!" He said grabbing Arcee by the head and throwing her to a ledge, but she managed to cling on for her life. "You have overridden the energon containment protocols, haven't you? Clever, but not irreversible."
The Decepticons tried to grab Hot Rod, but he managed to push one aside and kick back the other. He disposed of two more with close combat techniques, including punching one on the face and using another as shield. With the Cons eliminated, the young Autobot took out his weapon and fired at the terminal, earning Shockwave's attention, who felt no damage from the shots. Hot Rod changed tactic: he jumped on Shockwave and kicked him on the face. Shockwave tried to smash him with the cannon, but he evaded and tripped him. Next, he aimed his weapon at Shockwave's face, but the Decepticon sent him flying with an unexpected uppercut. While Hot Rod was down, he was surrounded by two Decepticon soldiers, but they were shot down by Arcee, who returned. More Cons came from behind, so after eliminating the first one she pulled out her wrist blades and engaged them in close combat. She finished with them all, but saw Shockwave approaching Hot Rod, still on the floor, aiming his cannon at him.
"There is more than one way to nullify a neural net." Shockwave proclaimed.
"Not this time." Arcee said after activating her weapon and firing.
The shot hit part of the ceiling, and cause rubble to fall upon Shockwave. Hot Rod rolled out of the way.
"Hot?" She called as she went to help him.
"I knew you cared."
In that moment, Starscream and Soundwave entered the room with more soldiers.
"It appears Shockwave's arrogance was his undoing. Destroy them!" He ordered.
"Laserbeak, Frenzy, Rumble, eject. Operation, eradication." Soundwave ordered with a deep robotic voice.
As the Vehicons fired their weapons, Soundwave deployed three Minicons: one looked like some bird, Laserbeak, and the others were two human-size Decepticons, one with a skeletal-like body and the other who changed his hands for two big hammers.
"How was it like you said it, Rumble?" The first human-like Minicon asked.
"Get ready to crumble, before rumble!" The one called Rumble said as he started to use his hammers to create shockwaves which went at the Autobots.
Frenzy joined the fire with his own laser guns while Laserbeak fired a rapid laser fire from the sky, as Soundwave supported his Minicons firing lasers from his tentacles, some kind of shotgun projectiles beam from the turret of his shoulder and turning his hands into two energy weapons. The two Autobots were forced to cover behind some rubble. Starscream saw immediately that something was wrong with the space bridge.
"Autobots, whatever you did to the space bridge, undo it now!"
"If you really want that much for us to help, I suggest you stop firing at us first. And you didn't say please!" Hot Rod shouted as they continued hidden. "Looks like our exit is blocked and the open space bridge portal currently set for Prime's location is our only escape route. You're with me?"
Hot Rod offered Arcee his hand, which she took. The Cons continued firing until…
"The space bridge, is going to blow!" Starscream shouted alarmed before running away like always.
The Autobots ran into the portal, just when Shockwave managed to get out from the rubble. The Autobots continued their way through the portal's tunnel, until a shot almost hit them. They saw Shockwave coming at them with his shock cannon ready to fire.
"Give him everything you got!" Hot Rod said.
Both Autobots fired their weapons at Shockwave, but nothing made him slow down. One of his shots almost hit them and forced them to jump aside. The shot let Hot Rod on the ground, but Arcee got up, waited for Shockwave to fire first, and dodged very close at the last moment and then fired her gun, hitting his weak point: the eye. That made Shockwave groan in pain as he covered his injure.
"Yeah! Bulls-eye!" Hot Rod congratulated.
Even with his injure, Shockwave continued firing, trying to hit them as they continued running through the tunnel trying to get away from a chain reaction. They made it to the other side of the portal and landed on solid ground, somewhere in the Safari Zone of the Johto region, before the vortex exploded. Both Autobots were lying on the ground with closed eyes.
"Think Shockwave survived?" Arcee asked.
"Not sure. But in case he did, I want the rematch." Hot Rod said with a smile as he tried to get up.
"Let's find Prime. Partner." Arcee said offering him her hand.
Hot Rod didn't hesitate to take it before they took a look to their surroundings, they were in a part of the Safari Zone which resembled a little like a desert.
Hot Rod chuckled. "Rich with energon, huh? I hope the rest of this rock doesn't look like this. It reminds me of when Cliffjumper told us about that time when he was lost in the Sea of Rust, back on Cybertron. Except he was separated from his unit with absolutely no one to talk to."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Some guys like him love the company: and so you do."
That was the end of the story.
"Funny. At first, I didn't think I'd ever get used to Hot's impulsive enthusiasm and friendly nature. But now, I don't think I couldn't have a better partner." Arcee finished.
Dawn and May finally understood what Arcee passed by.
Dawn held her hand. "Thank you, Arcee. Now I understand what you wanted to tell us with this."
"We will be sure to not make that mistake with our partners. Promise." May reassured before they returned back into the base.
"Piplup." The blue pokémon nodded as he went with them.
Arcee smiled seeing them go. Moments later, back at base, she was walking through the base corridors, until she found the Autobot she was looking.
"Hey partner, we're here. It was a long patrolling, so I expect you didn't miss me that…" Hot Rod started, but he stopped when suddenly, without warning, Arcee gave him a surprise hug. Despite that, he found himself a little uncomfortable. "Eh, Arcee? What is this?"
"Thank you, for being there when I needed you most." She simply answered.
Hot Rod immediately understood what she was referring to, and returned her the hug.